Li Jing’s Testimony at CECC hearing
the Congressional-Executive Commission on China
Tuesday, February 14, 2012, 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
2118 Rayburn House Office Building
Distinguished Mr. Chairman, Cochairman, ladies and gentlemen and friends,
My name is Li Jing. I would like to thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak about the persecution of my husband and our family. My husband Guo Quan is currently in prison serving a ten year sentence for peacefully expressing his opinions about democracy and human rights. After several years of harassment, my son and I arrived in the United States three weeks ago. We are exiles in this country, currently enjoying freedoms here that hopefully will someday be enjoyed by everyone in China.
I am here today to ask Members of Congress and the Obama Administration to help reunite my family, free my husband from prison, and to stand firmly with those in China who peacefully seek greater freedoms. Only the United States can make this case to China. It is very important for the world community to raise the case of my husband, and many other prisoners who are persecuted for simply speaking out—China must know that the world is united against the imprisonment of peaceful dissidents and rights defenders. But without U.S. leadership on human rights, few in Beijing will be listening.
Because I now have the freedom to speak, I want to tell you a little about my husband’s case. He is an academic and professor at Nanjing Normal University with a degree in law and a doctorate in philosophy. He started to publicly advocate for greater democracy and human rights in 2007, when he published an open letter to President Hu Jinto calling for “multi-party elections under a comprehensive welfare system.” Several days later, he published another letter, this time to Premier Wen Jiabo, defending the rights of 590,000 employees laid off by China National PetroleumCorporation and China PetroleumChemical Corporation and arguing for the abolishment of the “re-education through labor” system. He wrote several other letters defending the rights of workers laid off by the China Industrial and Commercial Bank and regarding demobilized soldiers and the nationalization of the military.
Because of his public advocacy, my husband suffered. On Dec. 6, 2007, the Communist Party Committee of Nanjing Normal University fired him from his job as professor. He was transferred to the university library to work in data management. He was stripped of his associate professor salary and allowed to work for only minimum wage. Of course, these demotions did not stop his advocacy.
On Dec. 17, 2007 my husband posted the “China New Democracy Party Charter” online, announcing the founding of this party, with himself as the temporary chairman. In less than a year’s time, he published online the “Herald of Democracy,” a collection of 347 articles criticizing one-party dictatorship and corrupt government, defending 10 social groups whose rights had been violated, spreading the ideals of democracy and constitutional government, and systematically promoting his own political views.
On Nov. 13, 2008, Nanjing police detained Guo Quan on the charge of “subversion of state power.” He was formally arrested on Dec. 19, 2008 and sentenced on Aug. 7, 2009 to ten years in prison, with three years’ deprival of political rights. I was forbidden by Nanjing police to go to the trial or speak to international media about his case. He is currently serving his prison term at Nanjing’s Pukou prison.
From the first published letter, my family experienced continuous harassment by police. Our lives have been turned upside down for the simple expression of political opinion. Our home was raided several times in the middle of night. They smashed the locks on our door, ransacked our cupboards and chests, and forcibly confiscated our computers and some of my husband’s manuscripts, which were never returned.
In the apartment complex where I live, police installed surveillance devices in the hallway and in the elevator and monitored by home phone, internet, mail and cell phone. On important public holidays or so-called “sensitive days,” my home phone line and internet access would be cut off. My employer told me that the Public Securityofficers visited him three times and he was askedto monitor my activities. I had no opportunities to be promoted. Later, I had no choice but to become self-employed, but they used various means to disrupt the normal business activities of my company.
My husband’s advocacy also affected the life of our 11 year old son. Since his father is a well-known political prisoner, he has suffered discrimination at school. He is continually mocked by teachers and students. Before his father was arrested, he held some leadership positions in his class and in his school, but he has been stripped of these. Previously active and outgoing, he has become more and more withdrawn and lacking in confidence.
My husband is innocent. He is a college professor and a devoted Christian whose conscience led him to advocate peacefully for rights and freedoms that are universal. For this he was given a ten-year prison term. This is egregious political persecution. His mother is elderly and sick and his son and I miss him greatly. I can’t imagine my son not being able to see his father for another seven years. I am very grateful to ChinaAid for helping us come to the United States to live in exile. I appeal to the U.S. Congress and the U.S. government to help reunite my family and to urge China’s leaders to release my husband immediately and without condition, as well as the many other prisoners of conscience who were penalized for speaking out.
Thanks be to God! Thank you all. Li Jing 2-2-2012